Early-pregnancy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and maternal post-pregnancy weight trajectory.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate associations of early-pregnancy plasma per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with maternal post-pregnancy weight trajectory parameters.

Methods: We studied 1106 Project Viva participants with measures of early-pregnancy plasma concentrations of eight PFAS. We measured weight at in-person visits at 6 months and 3, 7, and 12 years after pregnancy and collected self-reported weight via annual questionnaires up to 17 years after pregnancy.

Evaluation of clinical benefits and economic value of weight loss in a Swedish population using a simulation model.

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the 10-year clinical benefits and economic value of weight loss in a Swedish population with obesity using a value of weight-loss simulation model.

Methods: Data on the prevalence of and costs associated with obesity and obesity-related complications (ORCs) were applied within an adapted simulation model to evaluate weight-loss benefits for a 2023 Swedish population over 10 years. The 10-year incidence of 10 ORCs and treatment costs in a random cohort of 10,000 individuals were estimated for a stable weight scenario and four weight-loss (5%-20%) scenarios.

Pruritus in atopic dermatitis: a cross-sectional study of adult patients from a tertiary university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil.

Background: Chronic pruritus is the defining symptom of atopic dermatitis (AD). Although AD is common in Latin America, there is little data regarding pruritus intensity, characteristics, and effects on quality of life in this population.

Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate pruritus in 91 patients with AD at a tertiary university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil.

European cancer mortality predictions for the year 2025 with focus on breast cancer.

Background: We predicted the number of cancer deaths and rates for 2025 in the European Union (EU), its five most populous countries, and the UK, focusing on breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: We derived population data and death certificates for all cancers and major sites for the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the UK since 1970, from the World Health Organization and United Nations databases. Estimates for 2025 were computed by linear regression on recent trends identified through Poisson joinpoint regression, considering the slope of the most recent trend segment.

Temporal Dynamics of Depressive Symptoms, Apathy, Daily Activities, and Cognitive Decline in Older People From the General Population: A Network Analysis.

Background: The prevalence of depressive symptoms, apathy, and cognitive decline increases with age. Understanding the temporal dynamics of these symptoms could provide valuable insights into the early stages of cognitive decline, allowing for more timely and effective treatment and management.

Methods: Participants from the Prevention of Dementia by Intensive Vascular Care (preDIVA) trial cohort with baseline and ≥3 follow-up measurements were included, with a median of 7.

Addressing inequities in cryptorchidism care: The impact of social determinants on timely & true undescended testis referrals - A six-year study from a high-volume referral center.

Introduction: The American Urological Association (AUA) recommends urology referral and surgery for undescended testicle (UDT) before 18 months of age, but it has been shown that many referrals occur later, influenced by social factors.

Objective: This study aims to identify key social factors that impact UDT referral timing and appropriateness.

Study Design: Pediatric patients referred to our institution for UDT management from 2018 to 2023 were analyzed.

Most common flood-associated infectious diseases in children.

Floods constitute one of the most widely described natural phenomena worldwide, and their frequency is increasing due to the consequences of climate change. Floods pose risks to the affected populations, including an increase in communicable diseases mainly due to population displacement and overcrowding, deficiencies in hygiene and dietary measures and difficulties accessing health care. The most frequently reported infectious diseases in the context of these disasters are gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases and diseases resulting from wound infection.

Health literacy in adults with a spinal cord injury or disorder: An updated and expanded systematic review.

Background: The importance of health literacy in personal health management is widely recognised in the general population, yet remains poorly understood in some patient groups, including people with spinal cord injury or disorder (SCI/D).

Objectives: The systematic review had two objectives: (1) to determine the health literacy levels of individuals with SCI/D, and (2) to identify facilitators and barriers to developing health literacy in this group.

Methods: Seven databases (CINAHL, Embase, Emcare, ProQuest, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science) were searched from inception, with an updated search completed on January 21, 2025.

Fruit, vegetables and discretionary food intake in Australian adults: Past trends and predicted progress towards population preventive health targets for 2030.

Objective: In Australia, 'improving access to and the consumption of a healthy diet' is a focus in the National Preventive Health Strategy. The objective of this paper is to describe the past trends and future projections of population intakes against the Strategy's targets of increasing fruit consumption to 2 servings per day; increasing vegetables to 5 servings; and reducing discretionary foods to <20% of total energy by 2030.

Methods: Self-reported intake data were available from an online survey of 275,170 Australian adults collected between 2015 and 2023.

Omega-3 index improves upon the pooled cohort equation in predicting risk for CVD.

Background: Accurate predictive tools are crucial for identifying patients at increased risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). The Pooled Cohort Equation (PCE) is commonly used to predict 10-year risk for ASCVD, but its accuracy remains imperfect.

Objective: This study examined the extent to which the omega-3 index (O3I; the proportion of eicosapentaenoic acid+docosahexaenoic acid in erythrocyte membranes) improved the predictive capability of PCE.

Linking epidemiology and genomics of maternal smoking during pregnancy in utero and in ageing: a population-based study using human foetuses and the UK Biobank cohort.

Background: Maternal smoking and foetal exposure to nicotine and other harmful chemicals in utero remains a serious public health issue with little knowledge about the underlying genetics and consequences of maternal smoking in ageing individuals. Here, we investigated the epidemiology and genomic architecture of maternal smoking in a middle-aged population and compare the results to effects observed in the developing foetus.

Methods: In the current project, we included 351,562 participants from the UK Biobank (UKB) and estimated exposure to maternal smoking status during pregnancy through self-reporting from the UKB participants about the mother's smoking status around their birth.

Atrial fibrillation development in the heart failure population from nationwide British linked electronic health records.

Aims: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a frequent comorbidity in heart failure (HF). We analysed factors associated with new-onset atrial fibrillation in patients with heart failure using linked real-world UK data from primary and secondary care, along with findings from genome-wide association studies.

Methods And Results: Among 163 174 participants with a diagnosis of HF (January 1998 to May 2016) from Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES), 111 595 participants had no previous history of AF (mean age 76.

Effect of implementing training programme for nurses about care bundle on prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia among newborns.

Background: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a frequent and severe complication among newborns in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). It is associated with elevated morbidity and mortality rates, more extended hospital stays and increased health care costs. Implementing preventive care bundles and structured sets of evidence-based practices reduces VAP incidence.

Mycorrhizal inoculation success depends on soil health and crop productivity.

As the human population grows, so does the demand for higher agricultural yields. As a result, agricultural intensification practices are increasing while soil health is often declining. Integrating the benefits of microorganisms into agricultural management systems can reduce the need for external resource inputs.

Spatial prediction of immunity gaps during a pandemic to inform decision making: A geostatistical case study of COVID-19 in Dominican Republic.

Background: To demonstrate the application and utility of geostatistical modelling to provide comprehensive high-resolution understanding of the population's protective immunity during a pandemic and identify pockets with sub-optimal protection.

Methods: Using data from a national cross-sectional household survey of 6620 individuals in the Dominican Republic (DR) from June to October 2021, we developed and applied geostatistical regression models to estimate and predict Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike (anti-S) antibodies (Ab) seroprevalence at high resolution (1 km) across heterogeneous areas.

Results: Spatial patterns in population immunity to SARS-CoV-2 varied across the DR.

Association Between Body Fat Percentage and Urinary Flow Rate in US Adults: Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2018.

To assess the relationship between total body fat percentage(TBFP), trunk fat percentage(TFP), and urinary flow rate(UFR).We stratified by age and sex and hypothesize that TBFP and TFP are negatively associated with UFR across all groups.The study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), which includes a series of nationally representative cross-sectional surveys.

Neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions in 600 Swedish children with the avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder phenotype.

Background: Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a feeding and eating disorder characterized by extremely restricted dietary variety and/or quantity resulting in serious consequences for physical health and psychosocial functioning. ARFID often co-occurs with neurodevelopmental conditions (NDCs) and psychiatric conditions, but previous data are mostly limited to small clinical samples examining a narrow range of conditions. Here, we examined NDCs and psychiatric conditions in a large, population-based group of children with ARFID.

Association Between Cigarette Smoking and Subclinical Markers of Cardiovascular Harm.

Background: Cigarette smoking is a strong risk factor for cardiovascular harm.

Objectives: The study sought to explore the detailed relationships between smoking intensity, pack-years, and time since cessation with inflammation, thrombosis, and subclinical atherosclerosis markers of cardiovascular harm.

Methods: We included 182,364 participants (mean age 58.

Efficacy of Acoramidis on All-Cause Mortality and Cardiovascular Hospitalization in Transthyretin Amyloid Cardiomyopathy.

Background: Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is an underdiagnosed chronic disease associated with progressive heart failure that results in impaired quality of life, repeated hospitalizations, and premature death. Acoramidis is a selective, oral transthyretin stabilizer recently approved by the U.S.

The relationship between brain and visceral asymmetry: Evidence from situs inversus in humans.

This review examines the relationship between visceral and brain asymmetry and explores whether their alignment observed in some vertebrate species also exists in humans. While the development of visceral and brain asymmetry may have occurred for different reasons, it is possible that the basic mechanisms for left-right differentiation of the visceral system were duplicated in the brain. We describe the main phenotypical anomalies and the general mechanism of left-right differentiation in vertebrates, followed by a systematic review of available human studies on behavioral and brain asymmetry in individuals with reversed visceral organization.

The association between 25-hydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone in adolescents living with HIV in southern Africa: a cross sectional study.

Low vitamin D associated with high parathyroid hormone (PTH) is commonly reported in the context of HIV infection. We determined the association between total 25-hydroxyvitamin-D [25(OH)D] and PTH in adolescents living with HIV, in Zambia and Zimbabwe. Adolescents (11-19 years) perinatally-infected with HIV and established on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for ≥6 months were recruited into a cross-sectional study.

A 4-year cohort study of the effects of PNPLA3 rs738409 genotypes on liver fat and fibrosis and gut microbiota in a non-fatty liver population.

Background: Many factors are associated with the development and progression of liver fat and fibrosis; however, genetics and the gut microbiota are representative factors. Moreover, recent studies have indicated a link between host genes and the gut microbiota. This study investigated the effect of patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing 3 (PNPLA3) rs738409 (C > G), which has been reported to be most involved in the onset and progression of fatty liver, on liver fat and fibrosis in a cohort study related to gut microbiota in a non-fatty liver population.

Developing and Validating a New Atrial Fibrillation Risk Score Using Medical Examination Items in a Japanese Population - The Suita Study.

Background: The aim of this was to develop an atrial fibrillation (AF) risk score using items usually included in Japanese governmental health check-ups.

Methods And Results: We analyzed data from 6,476 Japanese participants registered in the Suita Study. At baseline, the participants were aged ≥30 years and were free from AF.

The influence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy on the development of long-term postpartum type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The association between hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) and the subsequent development of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Japanese general population remains unclear. To investigate the influence of HDP on long-term postpartum development of metabolic disorders and T2D, we conducted a population-based cross-sectional study using the 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (75g-OGTT) in 978 parous Japanese women (median age: 66 years). We further evaluated the combined effect of HDP and T2D susceptibility genes on developing T2D.